


How to Protect a Ghost

by AnagramRMX



Series: The Power of Three (Plus Two) [4]
Category: Charmed, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Episode Style, F/M, Family, Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:06:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a month now since the Halliwells received their powers, and thankfully, their problems no longer revolve around learning to use them. Instead, Dean is trying to get rid of them, while Phoebe focuses on buying a perfect gift, and Prue has trouble in love. When a man shows up claiming he's been murdered, it's time for the girls to learn a little about ghosts.</p><p>Or: Episode 4 of Charmed if the Winchester bros were Halliwells.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Protect a Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> So ep 4 I think is kind of boring because I stuck to the script really close, but at the same time I kind of love John Cho's episode, so I couldn't bear to butcher it too much. I did warp Yama to fit the Supernatural Ghost Mythology, though, and Dean gets to wrap up his storyline…but that’s basically the only thing that’s new about this chapter. Sorry. I assure you I’m ashamed of myself.  
> Also: Piper’s powers don’t freeze Yama here because this was the only episode in the entire series where Piper’s powers were used on ghosts.  
> Additionally, I warn you about the Chinese. I tried copying it as they spoke, but It wasn’t working out, so I just did google Translate. If someone wants to offer the proper translations/transcriptions for me, I will change it. Otherwise, you can accuse me of being an ignorant American and I will not argue with you

The majority of the Halliwell house was in the kitchen when Prue started down the stairs and heard the doorbell ring. She immediately walked to get it, and wasn’t entirely surprised when she saw Andy Trudeau standing in the entryway.

A few weeks ago she would have been nervous or confused to see him standing there, but today she was happy to see him. They had been seeing a lot of each other lately, going out on plenty of dates, and she had really begun to like him again.

“Andy, hi,” she greeted.

“I was nowhere near the neighborhood, thought I’d stop by,” he said by way of explanation.

A small laugh escaped from Prue’s throat. “Honest man,” she replied, moving aside and holding open the door. “I like that.

He took a few steps in, and she pursed her lips a bit as she closed the door.

“So,” she started. “Um, I had a great time last night.”

“Yeah, me too,” Andy said, though he was still grinning at her, like he had a secret. “But I forgot to give you something very important.”

Prue’s eyebrows raised as he reached into his jacket, and pulled out a small, pastel blue box.

“Happy birthday.”

There was a flutter in her chest that he had remembered it was coming up. Though, since it wasn’t actually today, she got a little suspicious. “But it’s not my birthday until next week,” she said, reaching for the package, curious to know what he had gotten her.

He snatched it just out of her reach. “Consider this a preview,” he said, grinning even wider.

She narrowed her eyes with a smile, and grabbed it out of his hands. He chuckled a little to himself as she pulled the lid off the box, only to see a key. It was pretty plain, just like all the other keys in her purse, but there was a numbered tag on the end of it.

Her eyes flitted up to meet his. “A key?” she questioned.

“To the Calistoga Spa,” he answered. “We leave Friday night after work.”

Hearing the words, Prue understood almost exactly what that would mean, and her heart fluttered again. This time, though, it was with nerves rather than flattery.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t had sex with Andy before. Despite her normal sensibilities, they’d actually had sex shortly after they had been reunited a little over a month ago. She had made it very clear afterwards, though, that she didn’t want to take it that far again until she knew for sure what she was doing with the relationship. At least that was what she had told him.

Her gut started to flip flop a little, too, because even if they weren’t having sex now, she certainly wanted too.

As if sensing her discomfort, Andy gently added, “Don’t worry, I got us adjoining rooms.”

“Adjoining rooms?” Prue echoed.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to assume something I’m not supposed to be assuming,” Andy said. There was a tiny hint of begrudging in his voice. “Although it has been over a month since we…decided to take it slow, but no pressure.”

Prue looked away from him, her jaw clenching a little. Even so, Andy’s gaze softened a little, and he let his voice drop a little. “I just want to be with you,” he said honestly. “Away. Together. Think about it.”

She looked back up at him and nodded. “Okay,” she said.

He moved forward, giving her a kiss before he started towards the door. “Let me know. Bye.”

Prue opened the door for him, not saying a word as he walked out, and closed it behind him.

Immediately she let out a heavy sigh. And forced herself to ignore how her face was slowly flushing red at the prospect of going away with him for the weekend.

It sounded good.

Actually, it sounded great.

But one weekend away was all it would take for him to figure out that she had been keeping a secret from him. He could find out that she was a witch, and for the sake of her family, she couldn’t let that happen.

As the conundrum floated through her head, she started to walk back upstairs to put the key in her room.

“Happy birthday to me…” she muttered to herself.

 

(-:-)

 

On the other side of town, though, it really was someone’s birthday, and as Mark Chao walked out of his mother’s house, he could only smile at her. She had insisted he join her that morning for a birthday breakfast, complete with hugs and balloons despite the fact that he was turning twenty three. Honestly, though, he loved his mother, and he loved that she was doing so much to show that she cared.

As he headed out the door, though, she had begun to warn her son to be careful today. She had always been superstitious, and was always worried about evil spirits lurking in the shadows.

“Give me a break, mom,” he sighed, though he smiled as he walked through the door, the balloons she had bought floating near his face.

She just followed him and continued her point with a smile. “ _There are a lot of hungry spirits out there, Mark_ ,” she responded to him, speaking in Chinese.

With a slight laugh, he replied, “You’re like the Chinese Shirley McLaine, you know that?”

“ _Better safe than sorry_ ,” she added, walking up to him and patting him on the shoulder.

“I’ll risk it.”

His mother didn’t look at all happy about that as he walked into the yard. “You should have more respect for ghosts, Mark,” she said. “If your grandmother were here…”

“She would warn me about all the evil spirits walking the streets in Chinatown. I know, I know.”

After giving him a _mom-look_ , she turned around and nervously pulled a charm off from in front of the door. It was a carved lion, painted red, that she kept hung on the door. It was supposed to keep spirits out of the house, she had always told him.

“You should take this for protection,” she said, walking back to him and pressing the charm into his hands.

Mark just shook his head a little and walked back up the steps to hang it back up, not at all noticing the almost sad look on his mother’s face as he did so.

“Maybe the ghosts need protection from me,” he joked lightly as he walked back to her and kissed her on the cheek. He assured her, “I’ll be okay, Mom. I’m twenty three now. I can take care of myself, okay? I gotta go…” he handed the balloons off to her before starting to walk back into the city.

“Happy birthday, Mark!” his mother called after him.

Mark smiled, and turned to wave at her. “Thanks!”

The walk back to his apartment wasn’t far, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, tops. All he had planned now was to get to the garage and head to work. Not the most exciting birthday, but it wasn’t a huge deal to him.

He waved at a woman as he passed through the market, looking for an alley that would get him across to the next street. He was almost there…

But as he got halfway through the alleyway, three other Chinese men appeared from behind a dumpster. He attempted to go past them, but they deliberately blocked him, keeping him from continuing to go on.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mark turned to go the other way and found that another two thugs had appeared to block him in on the other side.

A sixth man walked through, looking up and down Mark appraisingly.

“Is this the guy?” one of the thugs asked this man, who was apparently the leader.

“That’s him,” he assured, before smiling mockingly at Mark. “Is today your birthday?”

Mark could feel nerves tickling his throat as he started to answer. “Who are you?” he managed to get out. “What do you want?”

“You,” the leader responded shortly as he reached for a gun at his waist. He pointed it right at Mark as he said, “Make a wish.”

Before Mark could do anything, the gun went off, bullets hitting him in the chest. He crumpled to the ground from the force alone, but he didn’t feel it when he hit the concrete.

He didn’t feel anything at all actually.

He didn’t feel hot, like he normally did when he got into stressful situations. He didn’t feel the craggy-asphalt scrape at his hands as he picked himself up off of the ground. He didn’t even feel like gravity was try to pull him off balance as he got to his feet and looked back at the thugs. They were all looking at their boss as he knelt down next to Mark.

That was when he turned around, looking down and saw his body. There was blood draining from his chest. His limbs were sprawled haphazardly. His face was slack from lifelessness.

Seeing his corpse made emotion well up in his consciousness. If he still had his body, his heart would be pounding, his mouth would be going dry. But since he didn’t, it was only an emotion. Panic starting to surge through his being.

He was dead.

“Perfect fit,” the leader muttered as he slipped a ring onto Mark’s finger. When he stepped back, one of the thugs stepped forward with a red gas-can, and began pouring fuel over Mark’s body.

“What are you doing?” Mark gasped, taking a step back as another man stepped up with a book of matches. His body was completely drenched with the gasoline when the man lit the match.

Mark’s eyes went wide. “Hey, wait!” he shouted. No one heard him as Tony tossed the match onto the gasoline, and his body went up in flames.

“No!”

 

(-:-)

 

As Prue spoke with Andy, and Mark met his fiery death in a nondescript alley, the manor kitchen was hectic as three of the other Halliwell cousins got ready to start their day.

Piper was bustling around the island, looking at a stack of invitation cards nervously. Sam was on the other side of the counter top slowly eating a bowl of cereal, and looking at Dean concernedly as his older brother rummaged through the spice cabinets.

Piper seemed not to notice, though, and looked up at her younger sister in aggravation when she walked through the door.

“Good morning,” Phoebe greeted her housemates, smiling broadly at all of them until she saw the invitations that Piper had out on the kitchen island. “What are you doing?” she said, lowering her voice and leaning on the counter. “Prue’s coming back. Put that away.”

“Phoebe,” Piper sighed. “You were supposed to send these invitations last week. The party is Friday.”

As they had done every year since Piper was a teenager, the younger Halliwell cousins were attempting to throw a surprise party for Prue. Piper, despite her sometime shy and nervous demeanor, was a born hostess. She loved to throw a party if she could, and her sister’s birth was always a good excuse. Phoebe wasn’t so hot on the planning, but she was always happy to help entertain the guests. Dean and Sam for the most part weren’t interested in them, since Piper refused to let Dean partake in the alcohol served until he was legal, and they were a lot younger than most of Prue’s friends. They always agreed to help, though, for the sake of making Prue and Piper happy.

Dean could be heard slamming spice jars around as Phoebe responded. “Then we’re right on schedule. The restaurant is reserved, the menu selected, the cake has been ordered.”

“That’s because Piper did all of those things,” Sam said, sounding slurpy since he still had cereal in his mouth.

Phoebe looked at him as if daring him to tell her she was slacking off again, but Piper just sighed in irritation, trying to drown out the continuing rattle in the cabinet behind her. “At least tell me you managed to…” The banging got louder, and she rounded on Dean.

“What the hell are you doing to my cabinets?”

Dean slowed, and for a couple of seconds, he turned around and blinked like he didn’t know why he was getting yelled at. It also might have been the deer-in-the-headlights stare of someone who had been caught doing something they shouldn’t. Dean was tricky like that sometimes.

“Er. Just looking.”

A look appeared on Piper’s face that told everyone that she didn’t buy it. The kitchen cabinets were for the most part her domain. Dean’s cooking knowledge was limited to not boiling toast and heating up spaghetti-o’s, so his newfound interest in the spice cabinet was strange.

“This is the ninth time this week,” she pressed. “What on earth could you be looking for?”

Dean rolled his eyes a little. “Can’t you just go back to harping on Phoebe? Remember, you wanted her to get Prue a better present than last years?”

“No, I will not,” Piper said flatly. “And you have no room to talk. You get us the _worst_ presents.”

“I don’t get her cards three days late,” Dean protested.

“No, you get us chewing gum and magazines,” Sam muttered.

Phoebe piped up again. “Wait-who gets cards three days late?”

“You do,” Piper said. “And don’t say you don’t. Have you even _looked_ for a present this year?”

Phoebe pursed her lips a little, and looked at her hands guiltily. “Er…well no…I haven’t yet,” she tried explaining. Before Piper could look too disappointed, though, Phoebe piped up again. “But I’m going to! I swear.”

“Really?” Dean challenged as he turned back to the cabinet, and continuing to shuffle through them. “Where are you going to get the money for it before Friday?”

Phoebe fought the urge to childishly stick out her tongue at him before Prue walked into the room.

“Morning,” the eldest cousin greeted everyone.

“Good morning,” Phoebe said, briskly changing the topics. “Hey, I forgot to ask, how was your date with Andy?”

Prue smiled tensely. “It was great actually,” she said.

No one really bought it, so when Sam stood up to take his cereal bowl to the sink, he asked, “Then why do you look like you’re about to hurl?”

There was a moment’s pause as Prue thought about how to word it, or lead into it. She wrinkled her nose a little. “He asked me to spend the weekend with him at a spa.”

Piper suddenly looked panicked, knowing it would ruin her party plans. Phoebe on the other hand looked entirely baffled as to why this was a bad thing.

Dean actually laughed a little. “That sounds pretty terrible, Prue,” he said as he shuffled through a few more bottles, standing on his toes to get to the highest shelf. “Do I need to go after him for offending you?”

Piper frowned at his comment before nervously looking back at Prue. “For _this_ weekend?” she asked. “You didn’t say yes, did you?”

“I thought about it,” Prue said honestly, though censoring how her body had basically screamed at her to go. “But I don’t know. I just have to think about it…”

Phoebe snorted a little. “A weekend of rest, rubdowns and room service: What’s to think about?” she questioned. On the other side of the counter, Piper looked at her pointedly. “Um. I mean, you could be right, Going away with a guy is like…”

“It’s like bringing them home to meet the parents,” Piper supplied. “It changes everything. And if you’re not sure if you’re ready to make a commitment or not, you don’t wanna send the wrong signal.”

Sam opened his mouth to say something about how it _really_ might be a bad idea because they were witches, but Phoebe cut him off. “Plus, you need a week to prepare for a weekend away. There’s lingerie shopping, waxing, manicure, pedicure. I mean, it’s basically a full time job and you’ve already got one. You’ll never be ready, not if you started packing this second.”

The eldest sister looked incredibly suspicious. “You guys aren’t trying to plan another surprise party for me, are you?”

Everyone put on their most dignified w _ould we do that again?_ looks.

“No, never.”

“Why bother?”

“Of course we aren’t.”

“We’ve given up trying to surprise you, Prue.”

Prue still looked around at all of them suspiciously. Piper was mostly avoiding her eyes, instead messing with something on the counter. Dean was still bumbling through the cabinet, not facing her at all, and Phoebe was smiling a little too widely for comfort. Sam focused on the counter, giving away no hint of what he was thinking at the moment aside from that his cousins and older brother were ridiculous people.

But she decided to leave it. There really wasn’t too much harm in them trying to make her birthday a happy one, after all. “Well, that’s good,” she replied with a small laugh. “You all know how much I hate surprises.”

With that, she walked out of the room, ready to head for work, leaving the other four to look at each other nervously until she was out of earshot.

Piper started to glare a little at Phoebe, and Dean turned away from the spice cabinet for the first time that morning when she hissed, “Damn it, Phoebe, if you had sent Andy his invitation we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Phoebe looked affronted, of course. “What are you talking about?” she snapped back. “You heard Prue, she doesn’t want a party. You should be glad I flaked. Besides, you know as well as I do that she’s gonna go away with Andy.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Piper said pointedly.

Dean snorted a little. “Piper, she’s gonna go,” he said surely. “Besides last year’s party was a disaster. Maybe skipping this year wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

The look Piper gave him was beyond irritated, but it was Sam that spoke up. “Dean, come on. Last year wasn’t Piper’s fault. Roger was being a jerk.”

Everyone wrinkled their noses a little at the mention of just _another_ reason they had all hated Prue’s ex, and Piper stood up a little taller. “It’s been a rough year,” she said in defense of her party. “Especially on Prue. I’m having this party for her.”

Considerately, Dean just put up his hands in defeat, and abandoned the cabinet all together as Sam slid out of his chair so they could leave for school.

Phoebe, on the other hand, sighed a little, and took her sister’s look of commitment seriously. Still having the party meant that she was still committed to buying Prue a present before Friday.

And that meant she had a job interview.

 

(-:-)

 

The streets of San Francisco were still as busy as ever as Dean pulled over to the side of the road and parked the Impala. In the seat next to him, Phoebe was looking at the directions she had written down for herself to get to the place she was interviewing at. He didn’t know what the job was, but he was happy to give her a ride.

“You can get there from here?” he confirmed one last time as he got out of the car, about to walk to the ‘specialty’ store he frequented on this street.

Phoebe smiled brightly as she popped out of the passenger side. “Yep, I got it,” she said brightly. “What about you, where are you headed?”

“Just doing some shopping.”

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, looking suspicious. “What kind of shopping?” she asked. “Nothing to do with why you’re ripping the kitchen cabinets apart, would it?”

To play his part, Dean rolled his eyes and lied. Truthfully, he was in search of a special herb to make a power binding potion, but Phoebe, of all people, did not need to know about it.

The past several weeks since getting their powers had been rough for all of them, but Dean’s powers were the only ones that did serious damage. He had killed two people with them, and set two buildings on fire. He had long since decided that he was getting rid of them one way or another, but Phoebe, who adored her powers, would never get it.

“Fine, you caught me,” he answered her question easily. “There’s just an herb we’re out of that Piper needs to make pie. I wanted to pick some more up from a shop down the road, and see if I could get something nice for Prue.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Wow, you’re thinking ahead this year.”

“You know me, I’m just Mr. Thoughtful,” Dean said. “Now go, before you miss your interview.”

Phoebe nodded, and bounced away, and Dean sighed before turning to walk in the opposite direction.

It was a short stroll to the occult shop he frequented in town. While he didn’t usually use magic, they also carried silver bullets, and special charms that helped to ward off evil spirits. Today, though, he was visiting for their large stock of potion ingredients.

For the past week, he had been trying to get everything together to brew the potion that would bind his powers away. Every resource he checked said that it shouldn’t be too hard to find, but it wasn’t in Piper’s cabinet and it wasn’t at the supermarket, so he was dubious. It was the last ingredient he needed, and the shop was his best chance.

When he walked inside, though, he was surprised to see Erik, one of the guys who worked with him at the auto-shop Dean had blown up last week.

“Hey! Dean!” the man greeted him brightly.

“Erik?” Dean questioned. “Hey, man, what are you doing here?”

“Wife’s cousin runs the shop,” Erik answered. “Said he’d give me a few hours here until I could find another job.”

A lump formed in Dean’s throat after he said that.

Erik, he remembered, really needed work right now. His wife had just had a baby. Dean blowing up the shop, even by accident, had to have caused a huge problem for them.

“That’s rough,” Dean said, wincing a little.

Erik shrugged, though, and kept smiling. “It’s not so bad,” he said. “I get to spend plenty of time with my kid, and Mr. Logan said as soon as they get the shop rebuilt, he’ll give me a call.”

Dean was about to chip in with something about how he was glad it hadn’t hit him too hard, his own way of apologizing for causing the mess, but Erik kept talking.

“He also said you’ve been helping out over there.”

Dean raised an eyebrow, surprised anyone had heard about that. Seeing as the entire incident had been his fault, Dean had been down at what was left of the garage every few days, doing what he could to help. He wasn’t exactly a pro, but he was good with his hands. He’d helped salvage equipment and clear out rubble all week, getting ready for a professional team to come back in and rebuild the metal frame. Mr. Logan had known, but he hadn’t thought it was worth mentioning to others.

He scratched at the back of his head. “Ah…just helping out, ya know?”

“Yeah, it’s still pretty cool of you,” Erik said. “Most people wouldn’t bother, and would go find work somewhere else. I know that’s what Jayme did.”

Dean just shrugged. “I got the time, might as well help out.”

Erik decided to leave it at that, and just smiled. “I’m sure,” he said, not even suspecting Dean’s guilt, before waving a hand out at the shop. “So what can I help you find today?”

Dean’s chest constricted a little as he considered what Erick would think if Dean revealed what he was there for. Even if Erik’s wife’s cousin ran the shop, that didn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t know what the merchandise was for. Erik didn’t need to know about Dean’s extracurricular activities.

“Er…I need a present for my cousin’s birthday…”

 

(-:-)

 

A few blocks down the road, Phoebe smiled confidently as she was lead through the lobby of Hotel Neptune. One of the day manager’s was explaining about the position, making sure she knew what she was here for.

“No other hotel does psychic readings at the bar,” he was saying. “It’s kind of our trademark.”

“Well that’s why I’m here,” Phoebe replied, looking up at him. “I saw your ad in the Chronicle. I’m a natural born psychic.”

The manager, Frankie, didn’t seem to believe her at all. “Yeah right,” he responded sharply. “What’s your act? Tea leaves? Tarot cards? Crystal balls? What?”

Phoebe’s brow wrinkled, a little distressed that someone hiring a psychic didn’t believe in them. “N-no, I see the future,” she insisted. “I mean, I can’t always see it, I never actually know when it’s gonna work. Usually, when I touch someone or I’m in the same general area as them…” she trailed off, trying to find a better way to say it before smiling back at Frankie. “It’s kinda hard to explain.”

Frankie just blinked at her before looking over her head and calling, “Next!” before starting to walk away.

Phoebe jumped. _No!_ She needed this job! She had to get Prue a decent present this year. “No, wait!” she blurted, and catching his arm. Luckily, magic seemed to be on her side today, and as soon as she touched his skin, the images she needed came into her head.

“Frankie, hold on, I see it,” she said, narrating her vision as it played. “You’re having dinner with a blonde woman…she’s gorgeous. All over you. Then some red head shows up. You look surprised…oooh. She looks pissed.” She blinked as the images drained off. “Your wife?” she realized.

She wasn’t impressed as she realized that she was warning this man that his wife was going to find out he was cheating, but at the same time, Frankie looked impressed. Phoebe felt a little sick about it, but Prue’s present was more important than Phoebe’s sensibilities.

“When can you start?”

 

(-:-)

 

“What did you decide about Andy?”

Prue’s face warmed as she remembered the invitation to the spa, and she put the painting she was looking at back on her desk.

Piper had called a few minutes earlier, saying that Sam had asked if he could spend some time at Brady’s after school, even though he was still grounded. The answer had been no, but from there, the conversation had trailed. They talked about Dean and his continuing distress, the Phoebe and her lack of a job. Not wanting to dwell on the melancholic situations of their housemates, though, Piper had changed the topic. Prue wasn’t surprised that Andy had been chosen as a replacement.

It had been on her mind all morning, of course, but she was still wary. She was starting to fall in love with Andy again, and they had already had sex since they were reunited, so it shouldn’t have even been a problem. But still, she wasn’t entirely sure that she could trust him. What about her powers? What would he do if he found out? She pressed a palm to her head and closed her eyes.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I keep thinking it’s a bad idea, but then I think ‘what’s the big deal?’ It’s not like we haven’t already slept together.”

Piper on her end was quiet for a moment before she let out a breath. “I think you should go,” she answered.

Prue’s face went slack with surprise, but Piper continued.

“On Saturday.”

And then Prue understood. “On Saturday,” she sputtered. “Piper, you promised no surprise party.”

“It’s not what you think,” defended Piper. “It’s Phoebe. She bought you a present.”

There was a sort of disbelieving sigh. “Phoebe doesn’t give presents. She gives cards three days late.”

“Not this year. Surprise,” Piper said flatly as she fiddled with the newspaper on the table. “And she really wants to give it to you Friday. So could you please just ask Andy about leaving on Saturday instead?” She picked the paper up when she saw a red pen-scratch. Alright, that would mean that Phoebe hadn’t actually gone looking until Piper had mentioned it that morning. But at least she had tried…

“You have no idea how much Phoebe has put herself through. She even…” she trailed off as she read the circled advertisement, though.

_Psychics Wanted_

“She even got a job and everything…”

Oh. Piper was going to _kill_ her.

Prue sounded thoughtful about this development. “Okay. I’ll ask him, if I decide to go,” she answered. “So what kind of job did Phoebe get?”

“Don’t know, gotta go,” Piper answered quickly, needing to get to her younger sister and see what she had gotten herself into now. “Ciao.”

 

(-:-)

 

The drive down to the hotel didn’t take too long, nor was finding Phoebe once she got there. Her younger sister was dressed in such a gaudy outfit it would have been hard to miss her.

She had her eyes closed, sitting at a table across from an older woman when Piper found her. She had a sparkly decal attached under her eye, and a hot pink hat on with gauzy trim that hung around the back of her head. Her similarly pink shirt had droopy sleeves that hung down as she held the woman’s hands and told her fortune.

“…lots of other women…” she was saying, opening her eyes questioningly at the woman in front of her.

The woman looked perturbed, but she nodded. “Go on.”

Phoebe closed her eyes again. “You’re standing on a podium-no, wait…” A grin crept onto her face. “You’re on a scale. It’s a Weight Watcher’s meeting.” The grin fell away as she opened her eyes and winced a little. “Ooh, honey. It looks like you’ve gained some weight.”

The woman looked incredibly affronted at this. “That’s impossible!” she blurted. “I only cheated once this week.”

“No, no,” Phoebe said quickly, trying to defend her vision. “I’m not judging, I’m just seeing.”

“You’re a fraud!” the woman declared. “That’s what you are. I’ve never been so insulted in my life. I want my twenty dollars back!” She reached for the big bowl that Phoebe was keeping her earnings in, but Phoebe grabbed it first.

“No way!” she blurted back at the woman. “I saw you! You know I saw you!”

Still upset, the woman just pulled her hands back and stormed away just as Piper walked up.

“If you want me to lie next time, just say so!” Phoebe yelled.

Piper frowned at her. “Phoebe!” she exclaimed.

The youngest sister turned around in surprise and tried to laugh when she saw her. “Piper!” she exclaimed. “I am so busted aren’t I?”

Piper wasn’t nearly as amused as Phoebe was pretending to be. “Are you out of your mind? She asked. It wasn’t the first time this month she had asked that question, so he added. “Again?”

“No,” Phoebe said, sounding nervous. “I’m the amazing Phoebe.” She raised her hands, like she was advertising her mastery, but Piper just sighed.

“This is not funny. Our powers are supposed to be a secret, not a marketable job skill.”

“Relax, they didn’t hire me because they think I’m a witch. They hired me because they think I’m a psychic.”

“Hair splitting,” Piper retorted, blowing off Phoebe’s explanation. “You know you can’t use your powers for personal gain, not without consequences.”

Phoebe made a face, remembering when she tried to win the lottery with her powers. Dean and Prue had both blown a gasket, but Phoebe hadn’t won anyway because magic wiped her ticket.

“No, but it’s for Prue. It’s not for me,” Phoebe said surely. “It’s to pay for her present. It’s completely selfless. Besides, this is the last place anyone would expect to find a real psychic. Believe me.”

Almost as if to say she was wrong, there was a voice to their side, and the two of them turned to see an Asian man bouncing around nervously and out of breath. “Which one of you is the psychic?”

At the same time Piper said, “She is”, pointing to her sister, Phoebe raised her hands. “Oh, I am.”

The man looked incredibly relieved. “You can see me?” he asked, looking incredibly relieved. “Both of you?”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Of course we can see you, now back off,” she growled, before looking back to her sister.

“Oh thank god,” the man continued, almost like he didn’t realize they were in the middle of a conversation. Or like he didn’t care. “I’ve tried communicating with every psychic in the city. You were my last chance.”

Phoebe’s boss suddenly walked up behind him. “Phoebe, what are you doing?” he demanded. “You’ve got customers waiting.”

The Asian man kept talking. “Okay, listen to me, you’re the only ones that can help me.”

Piper narrowed her eyes, and looked back at the two of them. “Excuse us, we are trying to have an argument here,” she said, about to go back to berating her sister.

Frankie interrupted again. “Who are you?”

Trying to keep her job, Phoebe shook her head, and touched Piper’s shoulder. “Uh, she’s just leaving,” she said, before looking at her sister. “Bye, Go now.”

With a look that said she was not ready to end this conversation, Piper reluctantly walked away, shaking her head. She’d just have to bring it up when she got home later. Besides, she had to pick up Sam soon anyway…

Much to her annoyance, the Asian man followed her out of the hotel.

“Wait!” he insisted. “I need your help!”

“Yeah?” Piper almost snorted. “Talk to the psychic.”

“Please, I’m begging you. I was murdered last night. I can prove it.”

“Stop harassing me, buddy…”

“Please!” he repeated. “I’m desperate! You’ve got to help me.”

Piper grit her teeth again. She didn’t have time for this. “Leave me alone, or I’ll call the police,” she said back to him, before scoffing and looking at a woman she passed on the crosswalk. “Can you believe this guy?”

She turned away so quickly that she didn’t notice the strange look that the woman responded with.

“All you have to do is come with me to Chinatown and see for yourself,” the man continued.

Reaching the other side of the street, Piper rounded on him, pulling a can of pepper spray out of her purse. “Alright, that is it,” she huffed. “Look, either back off or-“

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bicycle racing towards the man where he was still standing in the street. She shouted a warning.

“Look out!”

The man tried to dodge out of the way, but instead, the bike slammed right into him.

Or: it would have if Piper lived a normal life these days. Instead, the bike slid through him. The man rippled a little, like the image when you turned off an old TV, but he was still there.

He looked at her desperately. “Now do you believe me?” he asked.

Piper’s jaw nearly fell to the ground. “Oh my god…” she choked out. “I can see you, but no one else can?”

He nodded. “I’m dead,” he confirmed. “I’m a ghost.”

Hearing that, Piper’s heart started to race. Her mouth went dry, and it would be a lie if she wasn’t a little terrified. But it wasn’t as bad as it would have been if she had seen him a month ago, because now she knew exactly how to figure this out.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called the house. Hopefully, Dean would be home to tell her how to deal with a ghost.

 

(-:-)

 

Prue nervously stepped through the doorway to Quake, looking around to see if she could find Andy. Okay, so she still wasn’t entirely sure about whether she could trust Andy or not, but she had sort of gotten over the idea of going to the spa with him. If he was going to find out about her powers, she could worry about it another time. Right now, she just wanted to be with him, too.

The restaurant wasn’t too crowded right now, so it wasn’t hard to slink past the waiters until she found Andy.

Disconcertingly, though, he wasn’t alone. Across the table from him was a woman with blonde hair and a blinding smile. The two of them were laughing, happy to be together. Prue felt her chest start to get tight with nerves as she walked over.

“Hi,” she greeted slowly, when Andy saw her approach.

Andy just smiled. “Prue,” he greeted, surprised, but not displeased to see her.

“Um, I tried calling the station house for you,” she continued. “They said that you would probably be here.” Her eyes trailed back to the woman sitting next to him. “Hi.”

She just smiled back at Prue. “Hi.”

Andy seemed to snap to it. “Oh, Prue, this is…”

She cut him off. “Susan,” she answered. “Susan Trudeau. Nice to meet you. It’s a pleasure.”

 _Trudeau_. She had his last name, but Prue knew for certain that Andy didn’t have any sisters. He had grown up next door after all. She stopped that line of thought, trying to be hopeful that she wasn’t his wife or something, and that he hadn’t lied to her. “Trudeau. Sister?” she suggested.

Andy made a face and tried to get a word in. “No, actually…”

Susan cut him off again. “Wife.”

Prue nearly felt her heart shatter. She tried to tell herself that she hadn’t actually been looking forward to it anyway, but there was no doubt of the feelings in her chest as she looked at Andy. She turned around and started walking off.

“Ex wife!” Andy corrected, calling after her. “Prue! Wait, I can explain.”

“Don’t bother…” Prue grumbled, not looking back.

“It’s not what you think,” he tried again, but Prue wasn’t going to listen.

Feeling the rage bubble up, trying to cover how hurt she was, she clenched her eyes, and felt power surge through her towards the first object she saw. She sent a dessert cart spinning towards him, and behind her, she heard a crash. She didn’t look back, though, to see Andy get run over by the tray, and did her best not to cry as she ran out to her car.

 

(-:-)

 

Dean didn’t like Chinatown. It was too crowded, and all the stuff they had to sell was junk (except cooking supplies, Piper insisted, and Dean wasn’t going to argue). The only things he really even appreciated of their culture were porn and their take out.

Half an hour ago, though, Piper had called him, absolutely frantic. She had told him that a ghost had popped up and asked her and Phoebe for help. Dean had thought it was ridiculous, since ghosts didn’t _ask_ for anything in his experience. They screamed a little, and tended to kill people, but they didn’t ask for things.

But since he hadn’t gotten the herb at the shop today, his plans to finish the potion had dead ended, and he didn’t have anything better to do for the afternoon. So he went ahead and drove out to Chinatown to meet Piper after she picked up Sam from school.

Whatever the situation was, at least it was something that _resembled_ normalcy in his life these days. The witch business had been throwing him off, but ghosts were easy.

Ghosts he could deal with.

So he parked the Impala, grabbed an iron rod out of the trunk for good measure, and walked out to find Piper on the street corner she said they would meet at.

They apparently got there at about the same time, because once he reached the corner, he could see Piper walking towards him with Sam and an Asian man in tow. Piper had wanted to leave Sam at home, but Dean had insisted that if there really was a ghost, Sam knew what to do better than she did. However, Sam was staring in a confused and awed way at the man next to Piper.

“Hey Dean,” she greeted, sounding nervous.

“Hey,” he replied, looking at the man and gripping the iron bar in his hands a little tighter. “Who’s this?”

“This is Mark, our ghost.”

For a few seconds, Dean looked between her and Sam to see if they were joking. They didn’t look like it. “Ah…I don’t think so, Piper.”

Piper put up her hands. “I didn’t think so either,” she insisted, “but-“

“No,” Dean continued. “Piper, ghosts don’t just walk up and chat. He can’t…”

Sam, who was still staring at Mark, reached out towards the man and tried to touch his arm. His fingers completely passed through the man’s bicep.

Dean’s brow wrinkled and he tensed a little with this new information.

“Nah…” Sam muttered, his voice dazed. “I’m pretty sure he’s a ghost Dean…”

Mark made a face, and gave a false smile to Dean. “Hey,” he greeted.

Dean’s only response, though, was “Holy crap.”

“I know,” Piper muttered. “Look, from what he’s told me, he died earlier this morning. His body should be right around the corner…”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Dean interrupted. “Before we focus on the ghost’s problems, can I take a second to ask why the hellwe can see him?!”

Mark looked like he was a little offended and Piper looked even more concerned. “You mean this isn’t normal?” she asked. “I thought you said you hunt ghosts.”

“Actually, we don’t deal so much with _ghosts_ as vengeful spirits,” Sam corrected, still staring at Mark analytically. “Normal ghosts aren’t powerful enough to manifest and cause trouble. They can’t make things move, can’t even make themselves tangible, usually…” He reached out and tried to touch Mark again, who just recoiled with an indignant _hey._

Dean looked at Piper. “Anyway, because they don’t cause trouble and we can’t see them anyway, we normally don’t deal with the freshly killed. How the hell can we see you man?”

Mark’s shoulders shrugged. “I know less than you do.”

Sam on the other hand looked away from Mark and smiled. “I think it might be a side effect of our powers,” he said brightly.

Piper’s chest heaved, and Dean rolled his eyes. “Of course it is…” he muttered.

“Hey, this could be useful,” Sam argued.

“Guys?” Mark called, dragging them all back to _his_ problems. “Can you help me out here?”

Dean shook his head and remembered, _yeah, just another ghost._ He could do this.

“Yeah, sure, where’s your body, bro?”

Mark started to lead the three of them back out of the shop and towards a row of apartments. “C’mon, I don’t have much time,” he said. “The police have to find my body before it’s too late.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

Not looking back, Mark continued to lead them to the alleyway. “There’s this Chinese myth,” he explained, “or at least I always thought it was a myth. It’s called Thowhoi: _when the gates of hell open._ ”

“Wait, the gates of hell?” Dean asked sharply. “If we’re dealing with demons here you’ve got bigger problems-“

“No, it’s not a demon. It’s Yama. He’s a gatekeeper, a guardian spirit. If he gets to a soul before they get a proper burial, he catches it and drags it down to hell forever.”

The grim idea settled over the three of them as they turned down an alley. Up ahead, Piper could see a strange, burnt-black shadow. “But you said you were murdered. How can-“

Mark shook his head. “Yama doesn’t care about good or evil. He just wants souls,” he answered darkly, before adding, “I should have listened to my mother.”

No one asked what that meant as they got closer to the dark shadow. As soon as they got to it, Piper gasped. There was his body, completely blackened, unrecognizable.

Everyone stopped to look. Even Dean cringed a little at the smoldering corpse. “This you?”

Mark cringed too. “Yeah,” he said sadly.

Piper took a shuddering breath, and looked away from the body. “Okay,” she said, a little sickened. “Uh, so guys, what do we do now?”

“Normally,” Dean started to explain, “we just take the body somewhere, salt it, and burn it. But honestly I don’t know what’ll happen to your soul if we do that. I say we call the cops, see if a proper burial will put him to rest. You might just be a death omen and justice will set everything right. If not, we can do it our way.”

Mark nodded. “That was all I was asking for,” he said humbly. “Thank you for helping me.”

Sam looked up at him, about to reply with something encouraging when he glanced behind the others and saw a shadow. His eyes went wide as a figure in old Chinese armor appeared astride a tall black horse.

“Ah-guys!” he choked, pointing.

The other three turned, and reacted similarly.

“Yama!” Mark announced as the spirit began trotting towards them.

Piper gasped. “Yama? Run!” She motioned for Mark to make a break for it, and moved her hands to try and freeze the spirit. She felt the magic run through them, but Yama didn’t stop moving towards them. “Why aren’t my powers working?”

No one answered, but Mark put himself in front of the three of them. “It’s too late,” he said. “You better go. Run!”

Dean hefted the long iron bar that he had been carrying at his side. Mark might not have been his _normal_ kind of ghost, but Yama certainly was. Yama he could _definitely_ deal with. “Hell with that,” he growled.

Yama began to charge.

The gatekeeper lowered his long spear, directing it at Mark as he picked up speed. Dean, just dodged out of the way of the spear and swung the iron rod like a base-ball bat.

The metal cut through the ghost, and Yama vanished with a screech.

“What the hell was that?” Piper gasped.

“Ghosts don’t like iron,” Dean explained, moving back, not lowering the rod.

“How long is that going to work?” Mark asked.

“Not long,” Sam said. “We need to go.”

With that, they all ran out of the alleyway, and were long gone when Yama reappeared, furious at losing his prey.

 

(-:-)

 

Phoebe was a little confused. She had gotten home from her first day as a psychic only to see Prue furiously cleaning the living room.

It was a little known fact about their family, but when something was wrong, the Halliwells tended to clean. Grams had done it incessantly when their mothers had died. Piper would furiously clean the ovens and refrigerator, like when she had been dumped in high school. Dean would go from one car to the next, making the garage and front yard glisten whenever his dad refused to take him on a hunting trip. Phoebe would do laundry when she was grounded for something she didn’t do, and Sam had a weird habit of dusting and organizing bookshelves when the others would play tricks on him, or say he couldn’t do something because he was the youngest.

So, finding Prue vacuuming the living room had immediately put Phoebe on alert.

It of course didn’t help that the first words Prue said to her were that they were _not_ going to throw a surprise party for her, and that the restaurant had called so it wasn’t like they could hide it from her. Then she had stomped into the bathroom started to take a steaming hot shower.

Now, Phoebe was hovering outside of the bathroom, talking to Prue through the door. She had heard the garage door open a few minutes ago, so it was only a matter of time before the others turned up.

“Prue, you can’t do this,” Phoebe argued. “Piper is gonna be crushed!”

Piper suddenly appeared from the kitchen, having snuck in almost silently. She made a face when she heard the statement. “What?” she asked. “Why am I going to be crushed?”

Just then, Prue opened the door to the bathroom. Her face was bright red from the heat, and like she had been crying. “The surprise party is off,” she declared.

Piper kept on her poker face. “What party?”

“She’s onto us,” Phoebe said shortly. “The restaurant called while we were out.”

“Oh,” Piper muttered. “Is that why you’re so upset?”

“It just hasn’t been a great day,” Prue muttered, as the door slamming from the garage heralded that the boys were coming in.

“Does it have anything to do with why Andy left eighteen messages on the machine?” Phoebe asked.

Prue was about to answer, but then Sam and Dean walked in with a stranger right behind them. She tried to cover herself more, because she was _not_ okay with near-nudity in front of strangers.

Phoebe got the idea and moved to help cover her with her jacket. “Hey!” she blurted. “Why is the drunk from the hotel here?”

Prue gaped. “What is a drunk doing here at all?”

Dean snorted a little as Mark turned away with an annoyed sigh. “I’m not a drunk,” he announced.

Piper pursed her lips a little. “This is Mark,” she said. “He’s a ghost.”

Prue made a face. “A ghost?” she asked. “Like a ghost we need to…deal with, or…”

“Not quite,” Piper said. “He was murdered, and he needs our help.”

“We’re just keeping his soul safe until he gets a proper burial,” Sam explained.

“Are we sure?” Phoebe asked, looking at Mark’s back suspiciously. “I mean that he’s a ghost. He doesn’t look very ghostly.”

Dean rolled his eyes, and waved a hand through Mark’s chest.

“Hey!” Mark protested, rounding on Dean in annoyance.

Phoebe and Prue jumped a little, and more surely went back to defending Prue’s modesty.

“Hey!” Prue blurted.

Closing his eyes and jumping a little, Mark turned around again. “Sorry!” he blurted, sounding frazzled.

Piper shook her head at them. “We’ll be in the attic,” she said simply. “Apparently my powers don’t work on ghosts, and I would like to know why. We’ll fill you in when you’re decent.”

With that, Piper headed for the stairs with Dean and Sam close behind. Mark slowly shuffled after them, careful not to look in Prue’s direction and risk being snapped at.

Fifteen minutes later, Prue and Phoebe had joined the others in the attic, and had gotten a decent synopsis on the issues they were dealing with. Sam sat in the corner, researching Piper’s powers, as Piper explained about Mark’s situation and Dean gave them their general introduction to ghosts and vengeful spirits:

Spirits were souls that were left on earth because they either still had something to do or were magically tethered to the earth. Other times they were idiots and fought their Reaper (a soul collector for both good and bad) and chose to stay on earth instead of move on.

Normal ghosts were usually not strong enough to cause trouble or be seen by mortals, but apparently being witches came with a complementary pair of ghost-goggles so they _could_ see them.

Vengeful spirits were ghosts that had been around for a long time, and become very powerful and hell bent on punishing whoever killed them.

Some ghosts wanted nothing to do with revenge, and only wanted justice. They were called Death Omens, and usually spent their time warning the future victims of their killers. At such a time as their killer was found out or that they were at least buried properly, they usually moved on. It was the traditional unfinished business gig, and they were assuming that this was the kind of ghost that Mark was.

There were also some spirits running around with no serious goal. Sometimes they became the equivalent of pagan gods, and sometimes they just terrorized the villagers. Apparently, this was Yama.

Iron and salt repelled all kinds.

You could get rid of them by settling their unfinished business or by salting and burning the corpse.

After the lecture, Prue was the one to start asking questions. “Wait a second, how do we know he doesn’t belong in hell?”

Piper looked concerned at the mere suggestion, but Dean just shook his head. “Not our problem. Assuming that this is an unfinished business issue, he’ll move on as soon as Mark is buried. A reaper or something will turn up and take him to whichever afterlife he’s bound for.”

Mark seemed to shudder a little at the suggestion, but Piper coughed. “Guys, if he turned up and found us, he has to be one of the innocents we’re supposed to protect,” she said firmly.

Phoebe snorted a little. “Protect him from what?” she joked. “He’s dead.”

Dean looked like he was about to explain something about how ghosts could be hurt, but Piper cut him off with a sigh.

“All we have to do is get Mark’s family to give him a proper burial. It’s not that hard. We called the police on the way to the house. I just want to give them a little time to notify Mark’s mom before I go talk to her.”

“Talk to her?” Phoebe asked. “And tell her what? That you’re a witch in touch with the ghost of her dead son?”

“No,” said Piper. “I’m just going to try and get her to have a funeral as soon as possible before Yama gets Mark’s spirit.”

Downstairs, someone heard a phone start ringing. Prue didn’t move, afraid it would be Andy. Piper and Dean were locked on their ghostly guest for the night, and Sam was still reading. So, Phoebe popped up and went downstairs to get it.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Prue asked.

Dean shrugged. “Dunno, never had a ghost as a houseguest before.”

“Hope we don’t make it a regular thing,” Prue muttered.

Silently, Mark seemed to droop a little. Piper looked over at him comfortingly. “We’ll figure it out,” she said to the room at large, though it was entirely for his benefit.

A few moments passed before Phoebe peeked her head back in through the door. “That was my new boss, guys,” she said, sounding apologetic. “He says there’s something important at the hotel. Y’all can cover ghost-boy, right?”

Dean nodded assuredly, and Phoebe smiled.

“Alright, then I’ve gotta run,” she said, starting to move away. Then she looked back into the room, adding, “Oh, and Prue: Andy called again. Everything okay?”

Prue’s eyes drifted closed, almost annoyed. “Fine,” she managed to choke out.

Even though no one believed her, Phoebe went ahead and left the room so she could get to work.

Dean and Piper, though, looked curiously at Prue. “What’s going on with him, now?” Dean asked bluntly. “Is he that set on whisking you away this weekend?”

Prue shook her head. “No,” she sighed. “It’s not that. I actually decided to go ahead and go with him.”

Dean’s eyes narrowed a little, not having got the memo that Prue knew about the surprise party. Piper just shook her head when he looked at her, and turned to her sister. “Then what’s going on?”

“Well, when I went to go tell him I was going, I found him having dinner with his ex-wife.”

Now both Piper and Dean’s looked a little upset on her behalf. Mark was off to the side looking confusedly between the three of them, not knowing what they were talking out.

“His what?” Piper asked.

Prue just looked up at them and gave them a thin lipped smile. “Yeah. You would’ve thought he would have remembered to tell me that before we started dating.”

“What did he say?” Dean asked, his voice lowering protectively.

“I really didn’t stick around to ask.”

Piper looked at her sister curiously, about to ask for more details when they heard Sam exclaim, “ _THAT’s what it is!”_ from his corner of the attic.

Everyone turned to the youngest of the Halliwells as he stood up from his seat and crossed the room. One of Grams’ less used books on magic beings was in his hand, and he looked excited about what he had found.

“Alright, so I found out why your powers didn’t work on Yama,” he announced, flopping onto the seat next to Piper and holding his book so she could see. “So you know how ghosts don’t exist on our plane, right?”

Prue’s brow wrinkled. “Ah-no actually-“

“It’s not a huge concept,” Sam said as if it were nothing. “They exist in a space that overlaps with our plane, so they have a sort of spiritual presence, but not a physical one. We can sense and sometimes see them, but we can’t touch them. Got it?”

“No,” Mark piped up.

Sam rolled his eyes. “I’ll pretend you do. Because they aren’t _physically_ here, on the level of existence where you use your powers, you can’t freeze him.”

Dean shook his head a little. “Sammy, time still affects them,” he said. “If Piper freezes time-“

Now Sam looked really excited, and he shook his head forcefully as he put out a hand and interrupted. “But she doesn’t!” he blurted. “Piper doesn’t just freeze time, and you don’t just blow things up!”

Everyone now looked really confused. Sam took the book back and started flipping through pages again from the entry on Ghosts that he had been showing Piper.

Dean was sputtering a little when he asked, “What do my powers have to do with anything?”

Sam put the book back down, and showed an entry on witches, and common powers. He pointed straight at two paragraphs that were right next to each other. Prue picked it up and started reading furiously as Sam explained.

“We thought it was weird when you were the only one that got a power that wasn’t from Melinda Warren, right?” he started. “Me and Phoebe got the ‘seeing the future’ part, Piper got the power to ‘freeze time’, and Prue can move things with her mind. It didn’t say anything about explosions. Plus, Piper has only been able to freeze whatever is in the same room as her. But what it is, is that you and Piper have the same power.”

“Sam-“ Piper interjected, trying to get him to slow down, but Sam just interrupted again.

“Lemme finish. Piper’s freezing time is _actually_ her slowing down people’s molecules to the point where they’re inert,” Sam explained. There was a prideful grin on his face from the research he had done in such a short time. “Dean, on the other hand, is actually speeding up those molecules so they combust. You both have molecular manipulation; you just do the opposite action.”

“So,” Dean muttered. “I could eventually figure out how to freeze people like Piper?”

Piper looked a little scared. “And I could eventually start blowing things up?”

Sam shrugged. “Theoretically,” he said. “You’d have to be way stronger, I think, to get that far, but it’s definitely feasible. You’re already getting a pretty good hold on your powers right now…”

Hearing that made Dean’s brow wrinkle a little. He hadn’t thought he had very good control.

Prue looked up from the book smiling, though, and didn’t let him ponder it too far. “I get it,” she said, catching onto Sam’s research high. “Because ghosts don’t have a physical presence, there aren’t any molecules for Piper to freeze."

Sam nodded fervently. “Exactly.”

“But wait,” Mark piped up. He had been mostly quiet as they discussed their own problems, but he now saw an issue with their powers not working on spirits. “If your powers won’t work on Yama, how will you keep him from getting me if he turns up? Wouldn’t that mean Dean’s don’t work either?”

The girls looked a little worried about it. Prue wondered to herself if that meant _her_ powers wouldn’t affect ghosts either.

Dean just stood up and smiled.

“Same way we made him go away in the alley,” he said confidently, before standing up, and grinning sort of amusedly at the girls. “Looks like it’s time you guys learned how to use salt.”

That only made the girls look at him in confusion.

Sam shook his head before they all headed downstairs.

 

(-:-)

 

Phoebe was doubtful of the situation as Frankie led her into the bar. Her boss’ so called ‘emergency’ was actually an attempt to reel in one of the hotel’s finer patrons.

“Look,” Frankie explained as he pointed at a man sitting at one of the table. “The guy is staying in the grand suite. He could be a sultan, I’m not sure. Anyway, that’s why I called. Make this bozo’s night, read his future, tell him something good and he’ll extend his stay, guaranteed.”

Phoebe shook her head a little as she looked back up at him. “Look, like I said, I don’t always know when my psychic switch is gonna be in the up position,” she warned.

“I have the upmost confidence in you, Phoebe,” he assured. “I don’t know how you do it, but keep it up and you’ll always have work here.”

She was happily surprised at that comment, but she was still nervous as she looked back over at the table. The man was already standing up to leave, and when she looked at the table, she saw how he had left a brown, leather wallet on the table. She gasped a little and rushed forward to grab it before he walked away. “Uh-excuse me sir!” she blurted. “You forgot your-“

It was evident by the time she got to his table that he was not going to turn around to talk to her, so she sighed, and looked at the abandoned wallet.

She moved to pick it up, but the second her fingers touched it, a premonition fluttered into her brain. She saw the man that had just walked off walking out of the hotel with his briefcase. As he stepped into the street, he dropped his briefcase, but when he leaned down to grab it, a car horn honked. He looked up in shock just before he was hit by a bright pink Cadillac.

Phoebe shuddered as the premonition faded. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t even see the man anymore. She couldn’t stop to warn him that he was going to get hit by a car.

She jumped a little when she heard a voice behind her.

“Are you okay?” It was only Frankie, and she settled a little. “What’s the matter?”

Phoebe looked back in the direction of the man she had just seen get hit by a car. “Nothing…” she tried to tell him, clutching the wallet closer to him. “I…nothing.”

 

(-:-)

 

Sam was stubborn as he stood there arguing with Prue.

“Come on! I can help,” he insisted.

“Just because you can help doesn’t mean you should,” Prue said. “Dean has this covered, you have school in the morning, and you need to go to sleep before that headache gets any worse.”

Sam looked surprised that she had said that. Yes, he had had a headache all day, even when doing his research upstairs. But he’d been doing his best to keep it to himself.

After the others had found out about his powers, he had explained about everything that was going on with them: the headaches, the dreams, and the yellow-eyes. In addition to grounding him for lying to them, the Prue had been diligently making sure he got enough sleep. She had even made him take a note to the nurse that said if his headaches got too bad, he could just go in there and take a nap until it was gone.

He thought he had been doing a good job of hiding it.

Prue just looked at him strictly. “Just because you’re getting good at hiding it doesn’t mean I can’t see you wincing, mister,” she said firmly. “Now go upstairs, and go to sleep. Got it?”

Sam sighed. “Fine,” he grumbled before turning around and going upstairs. “I’m fifteen you know; you don’t have to treat me like a toddler.”

“If you keep pouting like that people will think otherwise,” Prue replied before turning around and walking back to the dining room where Dean was sitting with a row of empty shotgun shells lined up in front of him, as well as a bag of rock salt.

Prue sat down across from him. “So what are we doing?” she asked.

He handed her a screwdriver. “Just do what I do,” he said simply. He scooped some of the rock-salt out of the bag, filling the shell with it before tamping it down with the end of another screwdriver. Then he curled the top of the shell back down.

Prue nodded. “Easy enough,” she said before reaching out and grabbing a shell of her own. “Is there anything else we need to do to try and keep Yama out?”

“Not much,” Dean said, shrugging a little. “Normally, we pour salt lines at all the entrances: windows, doors, sometimes even air-vents. Ghosts can’t cross lines of salt.”

“You already did that?”

“Actually, Grams did.”

Prue looked surprised, Dean shrugged. “I asked Bobby, once, and apparently he, Grams and Dad took like, eighty of those salt blocks you give hamsters, and cut a strip out of all the window-sills and door frames so they could glue them inside. Then they filled the walls with it. Only entrance that isn’t blocked is the front door, and I assume that’s to let in good ghosts like Mark.”

“Did you put salt in front of the door for Yama?” Prue asked.

“Of course I did,” Dean snorted. “I know how to handle a ghost, Prue.”

Prue made a face at how he snapped at her before rolling her eyes and continuing to load the shells.

Meanwhile in the other room, their ghostly-guest was attempting to turn on the TV. His hand continually passed through the dials, having no effect on the television.

Piper eventually walked in from the hallway, holding a bundle of blankets in her hands a little bit nervously. She might have been a born hostess, but she did not know the protocol for how to treat ghosts in your house. She had wondered if Mark would need blankets, and went and grabbed them without considering that he might not even be able to use them.

He shook his head as she walked up to him, glancing over his shoulder at her briefly. “It’s still new to me,” he muttered to her. “I keep forgetting I’m…”

He trailed off, not quite ready to say the word _dead_. Piper didn’t say anything, and just stood there until he turned around. He looked a little surprised to see the blankets and stood up immediately.

“Are those for me?”

Piper pursed her lips. “Yeah, uh, stupid question. Do ghosts sleep?”

Mark smiled wistfully. “I don’t even get cold anymore.”

She felt her face heat up, and set the blankets on the couch nearby. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay, it’s the thought that counts,” he said quickly, thankful for the gesture. “I guess it’s finally sinking in, what’s really happened, what I’ve lost. No more sucking down a bucket of oysters at the wharf, playing pickup ball with friends, coming home and hearing my mother’s voice on the machine…” He trailed off, starting to smile, and laughing before he said, “nagging me cause I haven’t married a nice Chinese girl.”

Piper smiled gently. “Your mom means a lot to you, huh?”

“She’s a great friend,” he replied, before shaking his head with a little frown. “Was.”

Sullenly, he moved to sit on the couch. “It was just me and her after my father died. Taught me everything I know, especially how to cook. My mom is a great cook.”

“My Grams taught me how to cook,” Piper confided, remembering herself how often she had helped with dinner. From a really young age, it had been her favorite thing to do in the house, and Grams had given her all the advice she could ever want. “Actually, I loved it so much, I became a chef.”

“Really?” Mark asked curiously. “Ever make a Peking duck?”

Piper shook her head. “No. You?”

Mark smiled again. “Piece of cake. Mom told me I could’ve been a great chef if I hadn’t sold out to the Molecular Biology program at Stanford.”

“So you can make a Peking Duck and clone DNA?”

Mark laughed at the joke. “The duck’s harder.”

Piper laughed too before she walked over and flopped into the seat next to him. “Well, I can talk about food all night long,” she said, fully intending on keeping him company if he couldn’t sleep.

“Yeah?” Mark teased. “Well I can talk about it forever.”

And even though it was a little sad that he was right, they both laughed again, and began to talk the night away.

 

(-:-)

 

Phoebe nervously paced through the hall, waiting in front of the elevators on the floor where Frankie had told her the man in the lobby was staying. She had learned that his name was Mr. Corey, and the longer she waited, the more nervous she became about the situation. What if she was too late? What if her premonition was wrong, and he’d already been killed while she was trying to warn him?

She looked down the hall to see if he was walking up, and sighed when she didn’t see him. It was driving her crazy not knowing if she would be able to help him or not.

She heard footsteps approaching, and practically jumped to look in their direction. She was rewarded when she saw that it was in fact Mr. Corey, walking down the hall and looking harried.

“Oh! Mr. Corey, thank goodness!” she blurted, hurrying over to his side. “Uh, I need to talk to you.”

“Do you?” he asked, his face contorting in amusement. “Me? Hey, you’re that psychic right?”

Phoebe nodded seriously. “Yeah, right, now look…”

Mr. Corey interrupted, still joking around. “Is that how you know my name?”

“No…” Phoebe began, although that wouldn’t really help her credibility, so she backtracked. “Uh, yes. Did you get the note that I left you?”

Now, instead of just amused, Mr. Corey started to look angry. “The note warning me not to go outside?” he gasped. “That was you? Do you get your jollies out of trying to scare people or that how you drum up business?”

Phoebe’s eyes widened. “What?” she asked. “You don’t understand! I-“

She was cut off as more footsteps approached them, and the woman that Phoebe had told about her weight watchers meeting appeared, immediately looking enraged.

“What is she doing here?!”

Mr. Corey’s face was quickly becoming just as upset as hers, and Phoebe quickly made the realization that this was his wife. “She sent the note!” Mr. Corey told his wife.

Phoebe shook her head. “It’s not what you think,” she insisted. “Look, here, when I picked up your wallet…”

“You stole my wallet?” spat the man.

Phoebe just looked affronted. “I didn’t _steal_ your wallet,” she insisted.

Mrs. Corey cut her off. “I don’t know what you want but just stay away from us, you understand?” With that, the two of them started walking into the elevator.

“But you’re going to die!” Phoebe exclaimed, following them halfway into the elevator, and stopping the doors from closing by wedging herself between them. The Corey’s rounded on her, looking even more upset. “Uh-that didn’t come out right. Look, I can’t tell you how I know, but I swear, if you go outside, you’re gonna get run over by a pink…” they just kept staring, but that was when Phoebe noticed that the man wasn’t carrying his briefcase. He had been carrying it when he had gotten run over in her premonition. He was safe for now! She started to smile. “Wait. You don’t have your briefcase! That’s good, that’s really good. It doesn’t happen without your briefcase!”

Mr. Corey just made a face before placing an arm around his wife and speeding up. “Leave us alone, or we’ll call hotel security!” he growled, before pressing the close-door button.

Phoebe stayed behind, not catching it with them. Her chest was tight with the disappointment and annoyance that he wouldn’t help her, but she was also beginning to think. She now had to find a way to help him, even though he didn’t want to be helped.

 

(-:-)

 

When Prue walked in to work the next morning, she expected to feel sleepy from helping Dean gear up to protect their ghost all night. She _completely_ expected that her coworkers Laurie and Alan would be laughing at each other through their office doors. She expected Hannah to glare at her snottily as she passed their boss’ door.

She did not expect to walk into her office and see a bright vase full of flowers sitting on her desk.

She couldn’t help but start to feel sad when she saw them, because there was only one person they could be from. She looked at them considerately before she heard the door close.

She jumped, turning around to see none other than Andy standing behind her.

“Hi.”

Prue looked away from him. “You of all people should know that bribery is a crime,” she said halfheartedly.

Andy’s shoulders slumped. “Apologizing isn’t, is it?” he asked. “Look, Prue, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was married before. I should have. I was going to.”

“Really?” asked Prue doubtfully, crossing her arms over her chest. “When? Before or after the doors of our adjoining rooms swung open this weekend?”

Andy considered the comment, but didn’t seem _too_ hurt by it. “Okay. I deserved that.”

Prue shook her head. “I don’t understand how you couldn’t find the time to tell me,” she said. “Not unless you really were trying to hide it from me.”

“Come on, Prue, you know me better than that,” he said in his defense.

Prue just glowered a little. “Do I?” she asked. Her chest tightened, because considering it, maybe she did. She was even pretty sure that Andy _had_ intended to tell her. She on the other hand had been deliberately keeping secrets. She was the one that Andy didn’t know.

“Prue, it was an innocent dinner, that’s all,” Andy sighed. “I’ve got an ex wife and I don’t hate her. Is that so horrible?”

“No, no it’s not,” Prue said, her voice stiff. “But not being honest, not telling me up front is.”

“Which I’ve already apologized for. Why are you trying to turn this into something it’s not?”

For a few seconds they just looked at each other, and Andy could read the look on her face. It was one of his talents as a cop after all. “What’s really bugging you, Prue?” he asked.

Prue just kept quiet, trying not to think about the real problem. Trying not to give away that she was the one hiding something from him.

Andy saw that too. “Looks like I’m not the only one trying to hide a secret,” he said sharply, before walking towards the door and leaving Prue alone with her thoughts.

 

(-:-)

 

At the same time in Chinatown, Piper was stepping out of the Impala nervously, with Mark close at her heels. She looked back at Dean, who gave her a thumbs up from where he was sitting in the front of the car. At his side, she knew, was a shotgun loaded with rock salt just in case Yama showed up to try and get Mark. Piper had a bracelet made of iron on as a last resort to try and repel him.

It wasn’t the spirit that was bothering her, though.

She looked at Mark as he walked up towards his mother’s house. “Are you sure this is going to work?” she asked, a little doubtful.

Mark nodded. “If you speak her language, she’ll trust you,” he said.

Though she still doubted it a little, Piper rang the doorbell, and took a step back as she waited for Mrs. Chao to open the door. When it popped open, she wasn’t surprised to see that the woman looked tired and upset. The police must have already told her.

“Can I help you?” she asked Piper, looking nervously at Dean where he was sitting in the Impala. Piper wasn’t entirely surprised. The car, as much as Dean loved it, was a little intimidating.

Mark looked at Piper and started saying the words she needed to repeat. “ _Ni hao_.”

Piper smiled nervously and repeated it to Mark’s mother, who looked a little surprised.

“ _Noge meiyung_ Piper,” Mark told her. “Wo xuyao he ni tan tan.”

_My name is Piper, I need to talk to you._

Piper echoed him, and Mrs. Chao looked both confused and trusting how. “Ni shuo zhongguo?” she asked.

Not knowing how to respond, Piper looked over at Mark quickly. He was thinking hard how to respond. “Berlitz,” he eventually gave her. “It’s about Mark.”

Ms. Chao’s eyes went a little wide when Piper repeated his words, and her hand’s jumped out to grab Piper’s. “Ni zhidao ta zai nali?”

Mark looked surprised, and a little off balance. “She asked me if you know where I am…”

That was not what Piper had expected. She looked at Mrs. Chao in shock. “You-you don’t?” she asked.

Mrs. Chao shook her head. “No, and I’m worried sick,” she said. “I haven’t heard from him since his birthday.”

“The police haven’t notified her yet?” Mark asked, a look of concern appearing on his face.

“How is that possible?” Piper started to respond to him, only to remember that Mrs. Chao couldn’t see him. She’d look like a crazy person to speak to him right now. “I mean…that he hasn’t called yet?”

Mrs. Chao shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s not like him. When did  you last see him?”

“Um…well,” Piper began, only to trail off, not wanting to be the bearer of this terrible news.

“Piper,” Mark urged her. “You have to tell her. You have to tell her where my body is so she can bury me.”

“I can’t,” Piper started, her eyes closing in annoyance with herself as she remembered Mrs. Chao again. “I can’t remember the last time actually, but if I see or hear from him, I’ll let you know…”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Chao said with a fervent nod. “Thank you.”

Mark looked upset as Piper turned to walk away from the house. “You can’t walk away, Piper,” he said. “You have to tell her…” he looked back to see his mother walking away too. “Mom, no!”

He ran after her, trying to catch her before she walked inside, but before he hit the door, a bright light radiated from the lion charm hanging next to the door, the very charm that was supposed to keep him safe. The light forced Mark back, bouncing him onto the ground where Piper gasped to see him fall.

“What happened?” she blurted.

“She’s got the house protected against ghosts,” Mark said. “All the Chinese fairytales she told me growing up were true.” He shook his head, looking miserable. “And I’m going to burn in hell.”

 

(-:-)

 

Phoebe walked into the kitchen in a bad mood, and she wasn’t surprised to see that Dean and Prue were in there already, looking pensive and upset, respectively.

Dean was standing in front of the counters near the fridge, pointedly avoiding his older cousin’s ire as he chopped up something green into tiny pieces. Prue was in front of the oven, continuing her cleaning spree from the day before by scrubbing the oven that was built into the island.

“Man trouble?” she questioned, looking at her sister.

Prue looked up at her and glared. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” she grumbled.

Phoebe pursed her lips, and then caught Dean’s eye. His expression told her that it was better for everyone if they just didn’t mention the subject in the near future. So, instead, Phoebe looked at the herb on the counter. “I see you found what you were looking for,” she grumbled.

Dean’s eyebrows raised, and he just kinda shrugged. “Oh yeah,” he commented, looking away from it for a second. He didn’t seem incredibly enthusiastic about it. “Found it in Chinatown. Mark’s mom had this talisman at her house that protected it from ghosts, so I made Mark take me to where I could buy one. Found it completely by accident.”

Despite that Phoebe was looking at him while he spoke, she was also clenching her jaw, and was trying not to glower at him. He recoiled from her a little. “What’s up with you?”

With a heavy breath, Phoebe walked over to the other side of the kitchen, where she saw that Prue had left more cleaning supplies. She pulled on a pair of yellow gloves and got out her own scrub brush. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” she grumbled, echoing Prue’s earlier comment.

When she moved to join Prue cleaning the island, both of the other Halliwells got a concerned look on their face. “Okay, you’ll talk about anything,” Prue commented. “What’s up?”

Phoebe just shook her head, not looking up as she put on gloves to clean with. “Nothing.”

“Phoebe,” Prue nudged.

Phoebe looked up at the two of them, and took in their concerned looks before sighing. “Okay, I had a premonition,” she explained. “A really bad one too. I saw a guy getting run over by a pink Cadillac.”

Prue’s eyebrows shot up. Dean snorted a little. “Um…a what?” he asked.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true,” Phoebe sighed. “I saw it and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Did you warn him?” Prue asked.

“I tried. He thought I was out of my mind. Thought I was stalking him or something,” she sighed, starting to viciously scrub at the counter she was at. “I just feel so useless, you know? I tried to help this guy and I can’t do anything to save him. I haven’t done anything to help you all out with Mark. These powers were supposed to help people and I can’t even do that.”

Dean’s brow wrinkled. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up,” he said sternly. “You aren’t useless, you just haven’t figured it out. And don’t worry about Mark, we have that covered.”

It took a few seconds for it to hit him that people had been telling _him_ the exact same thing about his powers. The second it did, though, he looked back at the herbs, sort of confused.

“I could have done something, though…”

“It’s fine Phoebe,” Prue assured her. “Mark’s situation is covered, but if you really want to help, Sam and Dean are ready and willing to teach us how to do whatever it is…they do…” Prue trailed off a little, not entirely sure if that was proper grammar, but Phoebe looked at Dean curiously, forgetting about cleaning for a second.

“Seriously?” she asked. “I thought you didn’t want us involved…”

Dean looked back at her, and had to shake himself a little. “I didn’t,” he said. “But the thing is, you’re in it now. You know about monsters, and you aren’t getting rid of your powers. You might as well be as geared up as possible to try and deal with that.”

“So you’ll teach me to shoot a gun?” she asked, sounding oddly hopeful.

Dean actually grinned at this. “Absolutely.”

Prue rolled his eyes at them, but smiled since the discussion seemed to have perked Phoebe up at least a little. She wasn’t feeling quite as useless, at the very least. “So where is he now?” she prompted. Phoebe looked over at her, not catching on immediately since they had veered off of the conversation. “The guy from your premonition.”

Phoebe’s expression started to fall again. “Hotel Neptune,” she said, sort of grimly.

There was a tiny rattling noise as Dean put down his knife, choosing to move away from the herb for a little while. “Really?” he asked. “What were you doing there?”

Phoebe looked back at the counter, and sort of went back to scrubbing. She didn’t put much effort into it, though, so both of the others got the impression that she just didn’t want to look at them. “I knew you were going to ask that,” she muttered. “I…I wanted to get you a really great birthday present, Prue. You know, to make up for all those cards. So I got a job at the hotel as the lounge Psychic.”

She looked up nervously, but neither of them seemed to have even cared that she’d gotten a job as a psychic. Prue was still looking at her intensely. “Phoebe, you’ve gotta save this guy. You shouldn’t be letting him out of your sight.”

Phoebe perked up a little. “Don’t worry,” she assured her. “I waited till he was asleep, and then I broke a key off in his door to lock him in. He’s safe till morning, at least.”

Prue nodded, impressed, and started scrubbing at the stove again. Dean just smiled and moved towards the cabinet to get out a plastic bag.

Phoebe watched them both for a second before it hit her that neither of them had exploded. Neither of them were yelling at her for risk of exposure, or personal gain. Heck, Piper had been more upset with her than they were. Her brow wrinkled a little. “Wait, that’s it?” she asked. “You’re not gonna get mad at me?”

Dean raised an eyebrow and looked back. “Mad about what?” he asked.

“For getting a job as a psychic,” Phoebe elaborated.

Dean seemed to shrug. “Not an _awesome_ idea,” he admitted, “but it’s not like anyone believes you’re really a psychic. Definitely not a witch.”

Prue actually looked a little amused. “You were trying to do something good,” she assured her sister. “And now you’re going to get to do something wonderful. I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present than that.”

Phoebe started to smile, and started to go back to cleaning. But, then they heard Sam yell from the living room.

“Guys! Guys! Come see this!”

Everyone raised an eyebrow, and walked into the other room where Sam was watching the news. Piper and Mark were already there, both looking dourly at the television.

“They found my body,” Mark said.

No one was really surprised, but they all got quiet as the news reporter spoke.

“Although police report that the body was burned beyond recognition, personal effects at the scene preliminarily identify him as Tony Wong, head of the Chinatown Triad.”

Before the word _Wong_ was entirely out of her mouth, everyone in the room was already tensing. They showed a picture on the screen of the so called Triad boss, and Mark gaped.

“That can’t be,” he growled. “That’s the guy that killed me!”

“This isn’t right,” Dean muttered, standing up and starting to pace a little. “Why would they think...”

Phoebe had moved to turn up the volume on the TV, but when she touched the remote, she froze a little, and an image swarmed into her head of Wong loading a gun. Behind him was a window with Chinese symbols painted on. Everyone looked at her, but she kept her eyes closed to try and focus on those symbols.

“Wait, I can see him,” she told them. “Wong is still alive.”

Mark grumbled. “Of course he’s still alive, that’s me they found.”

Prue ignored him, and looked at her sister pointedly. “Can you see where he is now?”

“I see a sign,” Phoebe said. “Quick get me a pen.”

Piper moved to get one, but Sam already had one on him and handed it over wordlessly. Phoebe started to scribble on her hand while Dean looked at Mark.

“This Wong guy, why did he kill you?” he asked.

Mark shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ve never even met him before.”

“You do look a little like him, though,” Piper chimed in. “Maybe he used you to fake his death.”

Phoebe looked up from her writing and held up her hand so that they could see. “What does that mean?” she asked Mark.

“Warhai Imports,” answered Mark, tilting his head a little. “It’s a warehouse over in Chinatown.”

 

(-:-)

 

Piper’s heart was racing as she and Mark slipped down a street in Chinatown, tensely clutching a newspaper in her hand. Up ahead, she could see the Warhai Imports building, and she was actually beginning to think she was a little bit crazy for doing this. She hadn’t told any of the others, knowing that they would react badly or try to go with her.

She _knew_ Mark thought she was crazy, as he had been trying to talk her out of it for the entire drive over. “I don’t know about this Piper, I think it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s your only chance,” Piper said firmly, continuing to walk, though she kept her voice low. No one was over here, but she still didn’t want to risk anyone thinking she was crazy for talking to herself.

“Piper, listen to me!” insisted Mark . “You don’t wanna go up there! Those men pulled the trigger on me without even thinking. They’ll kill you!”

Piper just looked at him for a second, but she didn’t think about what he was saying too hard. She knew that they would try to kill her, she knew it was dangerous. But still, this was the only thing she could think of to try and get the police to investigate further.

She tried to console him as they walked through the door. “I can freeze things, remember?”

“But there’s three thugs in there!”

Piper nodded. “Keep talkin.”

“With guns.”

“Even better.”

Mark made a face, and was about to ask a question when he noticed a charm like his mother’s hanging next to the door at the top of the stairs. “Wait, wait, wait. They’ve got an amulet on the door. I can’t go in.”

Piper looked at him questioningly for a second, before pulling the amulet off of its hook and tossed it on the ground.

Mark looked a little embarrassed.

“Never mind,” he said before they walked up to a flight of stairs. Piper paused for a second, and he asked, “Scared?”

“Terrified,” she answered truthfully, but adding, “That’s a good thing,” to try and remind herself to use her powers.

She quickly got up the stairs, and once she reached the door at the top, rushed through.

There were in fact three men inside, and all of them jumped to their feet when she burst in. Before they could draw any weapons, her hands shot out, and she froze everyone.

With everyone frozen still, she took a moment to breath. “Okay, phew…” she grumbled, looking at the goon-squad for a few seconds before identifying Tony Chang. “We gotta hurry…”

She took a few steps forward and slipped the newspaper she had carried with her into his hands. The front cover was a picture of Tony, and the headline announced his death. She quickly took a picture of him holding it.

Almost immediately afterwards, though, everyone started to move again. She nearly screamed.

“Run!” Mark yelled at her, and she did not need telling twice. They practically sprinted down the stairs and out of the building, all too aware of the gangsters on Piper’s heels. Neither of them stopped until they had reached Piper’s jeep, which was sitting right down the street.

They didn’t look back when they heard gunshots, or people screaming. Piper just stepped on the gas and zoomed off.

Their next stop was the police station, where Piper went in alone to slip Tony’s picture into Andy’s mailbox.

Mark waited by the car as she went inside, and though his nervousness had ebbed out of him since they had left the warehouse, he was beginning to feel a little doubtful of what might happen from here. Sure, the Halliwells were being great helping him, but even if the police recognized that Tony wasn’t dead, that still didn’t mean that they’d realize it was his body. And if they did, what would happen if he still didn’t pass on once he was buried?

Piper eventually came back out of the police station looking relieved. “Okay, all set,” she announced once she made it back to the car. “I snuck the photograph into Andy’s inner office mail.”

In his distress, all Mark could find to say was, “My afterlife is in the hands of a cop named Andy…”

She sighed a little, and looked at him chastizingly. “He’s an inspector, and he’s very good, Mark,” she assured him. “After he sees Wong is alive, he’ll know exactly what to do.”

“Bust Wong, maybe, but that doesn’t help me. They won’t have any way of identifying the body as mine.”

“I put your name in with the picture. Andy will get dental records or something and match it up. All we have to do,” she continued, “is keep Yama away from you until then.

He smiled at her. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. I made you a promise didn’t I?” She didn’t look away from him, and kept talking as she opened the car door for him, smiling back, assuring. “As much as I like you, I have no intention of joining you.”

Mark was about to comment, but someone else spoke before he could.

“Talking to yourself, huh?”

Piper spun on her heel, and nearly had a heart attack before she realized that it was Andy talking to her. She slammed the car door shut without a second thought.

“Andy, hi,” She exclaimed. “Yeah, um, it’s an old habit, I do it all the time.”

Andy smiled, making it obvious that he was messing around with her for the fun of it. “My mom used to call it interesting conversations with an interesting person.”

“Yeah?” Piper questioned, her voice shaking a little. “Interesting.”

Mark nearly snorted. “Very.”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “Not that it’s not a pleasure, but what are you doing here?”

Piper shrugged a little. “Oh, nothing,” she said casually. “You know, just passing by.”

The Inspector didn’t seem to buy it, and looked at the pavement almost nervously. “Did Prue tell you what’s going on?”

Piper winced a little. “No,” she started, before sighing. “Well, yeah, I mean, sort of. Kind of screwed up, huh?”

“Any idea what I should do?”

The gears clicked in Mark’s brain. “Oh, _that_ Andy.”

“Yeah,” Piper answered him, before catching her mistake and backtracking to convince Andy. “I mean… _yeah_ , hmm. Just give her some space, let her work it through.”

Andy nodded, as if he had sort of realized that himself, but felt weird not actively seeking her forgiveness. “Yeah, okay…” he muttered, before leaning forwards and giving her a hug. “Thanks. Take care.”

Piper smiled as he hugged her, and patted him lightly on the back. “Yeah, you too,” she said sincerely before watching him walk off.

Mark smiled at her, partly amused at how nervous she had acted, and partly touched at how sincerely she had wanted to help him, even through those nerves.

When she turned back to him and saw his smile, she raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He shook his head a little before saying, “You’re a really sweet person, you know that?” Piper looked like she would laugh it off, so he added, “No, I mean that. I wanna take you somewhere. There’s something I wanna do for you…” And with that, he slid into the passenger’s seat without Piper opening the door.

 

(-:-)

 

Phoebe waited by the elevators, determined to help Mr. Corey whether he believed her or not. She had gotten a few strange looks from Frankie, who wasn’t supposed to be working, but other than that, there were thus far no hindrances to her helping him.

The next elevator dinged to declare its arrival, and she desperately looked over to see that Mr. Corey was walking out of one.

“Oh! Mr. Corey!” she exclaimed immediately rushing over to him.

He glared when he saw her. “Stay away.

She pressed on. “Please, you have to believe me.”

He kept glaring as he stormed towards the main doors. “You locked me in my room didn’t you?” he growled.

“Just for your protection,” Phoebe insisted.

Mr. Corey nearly groaned. “What do you want?” he blurted. “Money? Is that what this is? A shakedown?”

“No!” Phoebe declared sharply. “I’m trying to save your life for god’s sake! Listen to me.”

He shook his head and turned around as he got close to the doors. “You’re crazy.”

“If you walk out that door you’re a dead man!” she insisted.

Mr. Corey looked at the door man, and asked to call security before walking through the doors.

“Mr. Corey, don’t do it!” she yelled after him, before starting to chase him again. By the time she made it out the doors, he was standing in the middle of the road trying to pick up his briefcase as a pink Cadillac sped towards him.

“Watch out!” she shouted, before running at him and barely managing to tackle him out of the way.

Once the car was gone, she started to stagger back to her feet. Mr. Corey was wide eyed at her side, looking like he might be sick. He looked at her in disbelief.

“That’ll be twenty dollars. Tip not included,” she said sharply before walking away, her head spinning with adrenaline and happiness that she had pulled it off.

 

(-:-)

 

When Mark said that he had wanted to take Piper somewhere, she had assumed that he meant take her into town and show her a really nice place to eat or something. She hadn’t really expected for him to take her to a lovely apartment complex, or to show her into a very neat apartment.

“This is your place?” she asked curiously, looking around. “It’s beautiful.”

Mark smiled as he watched her mill around. “Thanks.”

She picked up a book off of his table and smiled. “Camus,” she chuckled. “I’m impressed.”

“I wish I had a chance to finish it,” Mark replied in similar amusement, before shrugging with a consideration. “Of course, I guess I can say that about almost everything, I guess.”

Piper flipped the book oven to the page he had left it on, and began reciting. “I love this world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour where one is weary of prisons, and all one craves for is a warm face, the warmth and wonder of a loving heart.”

“I like that part.”

“Me too.”

As she put down the book, she looked back at Mark, who said, “Listen, if your cop friend comes through, maybe I’ll get a chance to ask Camus himself how it turns out.” He waved her away from the table and the book. “I want you to reach for something.”

He lead her over to a tall shelf, and pointed at an ornamental box at the top. Piper quickly went and pulled it down, before looking at him in question.

Mark moved to sit on the sofa. “Open it,” he told her, while patting the seat next to him.

She took a seat and she pulled open the box, surprised to see several letters written in Chinese, with some papers in English at the very bottom. “What are they?” she asked.

“My grandfather’s recipes,” he answered. “My dad translated them when I was born. They’ve been serving these in my family’s restaurant for decades. They’re yours.”

Piper’s eyes went wide, and she looked up at him in shock. “But they belong in your family.”

He shook his head. “I want you to have them,” he insisted. “For everything you’ve done for me. I just ask one favor: use them for your sister’s surprise birthday party.”

Piper smiled a little, but also let out a little sigh. “Prue doesn’t want a party.”

“Birthdays are important. I know. I walked out of my last one and it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t get another. She may not know it, but she needs to celebrate her birthday, we all do…Don’t take it for granted.”

Piper swallowed hard at his words, and trembled a little as he turned towards her. She wanted to tell him _Of Course_ she would, but she couldn’t force it out of her lips when she considered how much she had begun to like Mark since they had met. Mark would never get to have another birthday, would never be able to speak to his mom again, would never grow old, or get married and have kids.

Piper couldn’t help but wonder if maybe, in another circumstance, she would’ve been the one to marry him and have his kids.

By the look on Mark’s face he was wondering the same thing.

 

(-:-)

 

The TV cast flashes of light across Prue’s ceiling as she flicked through the channels. Even though it had been more than a day since she had last seen Andy, she still felt almost sick thinking about the entire situation. She knew she was partly in the right after all: he shouldn’t have kept his ex-wife from her. He had lied.

But now she was pretty sure she was overreacting. Maybe it had just never come up, or maybe he was just waiting to introduce her as a friend, seeing as they were on really friendly terms.

It also stood that he had been right when he had gone to see her at Buckland’s. She was keeping secrets just like he was, and hers was far bigger, and far more important. She didn’t have the right to react that way because he didn’t tell her about one thing. She was also starting to wonder that if keeping a secret this big would make it even harder to have a real relationship.

The door cracked open, and she wasn’t surprised to hear Phoebe’s voice as her sister settled into a chair nearby. “Prue, what are you doing?”

“Just flicking through the channels…”

Phoebe’s brow crinkled a little. “You don’t flick,” she grumbled. “You never flick.”

“Well, I flick now,” Prue said, looking over at Phoebe to make a retort of some kind, but surprised to see that Phoebe didn’t look too hot. The legs of her jeans were dirty like she had slid across pavement, and there was a slight bruise on her cheek. She raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay? You look…”

Phoebe smiled, and cut her off. “Awful? I know. I feel fine.”

“Did you warn that guy?”

The smile on Phoebe’s face on widened. “I did better than that,” she said. “I saved that guy. And it was great, too. I knew doing it would be good for him, but I had no idea what a rush it would be for me. I felt so good, and not just about myself, but about everything. That even in my own little way, I could make a difference.” Phoebe laughed a little. “Can you believe it’s me saying this?”

Prue laughed a little too. “What more can I say? It’s been a week of surprises.”

“Yeah, speaking of surprises: what are you gonna do about Andy?”

The smile that had developed fell off of Prue’s face. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Andy kept something from me, but the truth is that I keep something from him every day. And it’s not like I’ll ever be able to tell him about our secret, so what’s the point?”

Phoebe, while she still looked a little concerned, smiled still. “We’re the Charmed Ones, Prue,” she answered sagely. “Not the doomed ones. We have lives just like everyone else. Call him, go see him, do something. Give to get, that’s the secret of life. Not our powers…”

 

(-:-)

 

Piper looked shyly at Mark as they both walked back into the manor. They had both been quiet since they had left Mark’s apartment, and Mark had begun to look more and more regretful about his situation.

“You okay?” she asked as she closed the door.

“I was just thinking,” he said quietly. “Walking under the stars, what’s really up there? What’s waiting for me?”

Piper looked him in the eye and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you can give me a hint when you get there.”

Mark looked at her and smiled wistfully. “I don’t want this night to ever end,” he admitted. “I’m not ready to say goodbye, Piper.”

Piper looked at him sadly before she took a step forwards, moving to touch him before remembering that she couldn’t. Even so, she kept her hand almost near his face, imagining that she could feel his skin. She didn’t want this to end either.

“Close your eyes,” she said to him, her voice shaking, and her body trembling as her eyes welled with tears. “Pretend you can feel my hand on your skin, that my touch gives you comfort.”

Mark opened his eyes, and was about to say something, but Piper cut him off.

“Just close your eyes.”

He did, and so did Piper before she moved forwards, as if she were going to kiss him. She stopped just millimeters away from his mouth, not wanting to flat out pass through him.

After a few moments, he pulled back and shook his head. “Where were you my whole life?” he asked.

Piper looked like she might answer, and smiled a little, but before she could, the door flew open. Piper shrieked as two men burst through the door and grabbed her.

“No!” Mark shouted as they carried her out the door. “Piper! Someone help!”

By the time Dean came running up from the basement, Piper had already been stashed in the goons’ car.

“What happened?!” Dean blurted at Mark just as Phoebe, Prue and Sam appeared on the stairwell.

“They took her,” Mark explained desperately. “Wong’s men took Piper!”

“Do you know where they took her?” Prue blurted, but Mark just shook his head. “I’m calling nine-one-one…”

She started to rush for the phone, but Phoebe caught her hand. “No, do it from the car, we have to go look for her!”

No one argued and immediately ran for the door.

 

(-:-)

 

Piper could feel nerves dancing through her chest. Her stomach was a knot of butterflies, her throat was tight with worry. It would have been the perfect time for her to use her powers if she wasn’t completely bound to a chair, with her hands tied uselessly behind her.

It had been several hours she had been kidnapped, and standing around her now were Tony Wong and his goons. Wong himself was sitting on a desk a few feet away from her, loading bullets into a gun. His men were just standing around threateningly.

“The first time I saw you, I thought you were a ghost,” Tony said, hardly looking up at her.

Piper scowled, and fought a little with her bonds. If only she had a knife. Actually, seeing as this was her life now, carrying one from now on might not be a bad idea.

“These ropes are really tight,” she commented, visibly fighting with the ropes. No one moved to help her though. Yep, she was definitely getting a knife. And probably going to ask Dean and Sam if they knew anything about getting out of rope binding.

She let out a huff, knowing that her struggles were getting her nowhere. Instead she glanced at Tony, and asked, “Why did you kill Mark?”

This got their attention. Wong looked at her, and stood up. “I needed his identity,” he said darkly, walking towards her. Without warning, he grabbed a fist full of her hair, and she gasped. “Who else knows I’m alive?” he demanded. “I had plans! I had a boat ready to take me to Hong Kong. I had a whole new life and you screwed it all up!”

There was suddenly a pounding noise downstairs, and Piper could hear Mark yelling. She was sure her family was there to rescue her. There was a _thump_ kind of noise, like someone was hitting a wall.

Wong heard it too, and he suddenly went on edge. He used his gun to point at the door. “I’ll take her,” he said. “You shoot anyone that comes through that door.” As the others walked off, Mark moved behind Piper. He untied her hands from the chair, and she immediately started to pull at the remaining restraints.

The door opened suddenly, with Prue leading the charge upstairs. Dean was close behind with a hand gun.

The second they were in view, the henchmen raised their guns, aiming to kill, but Prue waved her hand, knocking them to the ground and the guns out of their hands.

Wong gaped as he raised his gun, not sure what he was dealing with and shooting before asking questions. Dean started aiming his gun just a little too late, and at about the same time Piper managed to get her hands free.

She snapped them out frantically, and Wong froze.

Prue just stared at the bullet stuck in midair. Dean just blinked and nodded, as if this was an acceptable turn of events. He crossed the room and started working at the bindings still around Piper’s ankles. “Nice timing,” he said.

Prue shook her head and moved to help him as Mark finally walked in from where he had been waiting on the stairs.

He looked darkly at Wong. “How long does this last again?” he asked.

“Not very…” Piper said. Prue untied the last of the ropes, allowing her to stand right before they heard a bang.

Their eyes all snapped around to where Wong was now frantically looking for his target. The bullet had moved out of mid-air and hit a statue in the corner. When he finally turned to see them, Dean had his gun pointed right at his chest, and he looked absolutely terrified.

Police sirens started going off outside.

“Who are you people?” he stammered, struggling to raise his gun again. Prue waved her arm and knocked him down the stairs with her powers before he could try to hurt them again.

The sirens got louder and louder, and Piper onto  to the balcony. The building, conveniently, was connected to several others by said balcony, and as soon as they were far away from the warehouse they looked back at where the police were surrounding the building. Wong had run through the doors of the warehouse and was pointing his gun at the police around him.

A policeman’s shouted, “Police! Freeze!”

With no other options, though, Wong shot.

Immediately, at least three other policemen fired, hitting Wong straight on. He immediately crumpled to the ground.

Piper shuddered. Dean and Prue just looked on disappointedly. “I’ve never seen anyone killed before…” Piper muttered.

“Jeremy,” Prue reminded her.

And Dean added, “Javna.”

“I meant human,” Piper said, narrowing her eyes as she turned to them and they started to walk away. “Where are Phoebe and Sam?”

“Waiting in the car,” Dean said as they approached the steps that put them in the alleyway where the impala was parked, and where Sam and Phoebe were bouncing on their heels with worry. Dean had said Phoebe couldn’t go because she couldn’t defend herself. Prue had said Sam couldn’t go because it was a mob warehouse for God’s sake and he was fifteen. Neither had been very happy about it, but they had done as they were told.

“What happened?!” Sam barked at them as they came down the steps gradually.

“We’ll tell you in the car,” Prue sighed. “In the mean time, we need to go before the police see us.”

Phoebe opened her mouth to ask something else right before there was the sound of footsteps, and Tony Wong ran into their alleyway, wide-eyed with shock. Those who had just saw him killed looked at him in confusion.

Wong froze in his tracks when he saw Mark.

“Wong,” Mark growled, realizing that they were both ghosts.

Wong was visibly shaking when he replied. “But you’re dead…”

“Yeah,” Mark affirmed bitterly. “So are you.”

The two men glared at each other, and over Wong’s shoulder, Piper spotted a man on horseback.

Yama.

“Mark, I think you should get outta here…” she breathed.

Mark looked up, but when he saw Yama, he didn’t run. Instead, he moved forward and grabbed Tony by the collar. Tony, still in a state of shock, moved as he was directed.

“Make a wish, you bastard,” Mark growled before shoving Tony in Yama’s direction.

Immediately, Yama lowered his spear, and Tony’s soul was drawn into it like an injection needle. They never even heard him scream.

Mark was eerily calm when he looked back to Yama, even though the Guardian was slowly trotting towards him.

Before he got too close, though, Phoebe and Sam stood in front of the others. Phoebe had a shotgun in her hand, and Sam was holding what looked to be an iron plated baseball bat. Prue and Dean hadn’t carried ghostly weapons for the sake of speed, but they hadn’t left the others unprepared.

Piper slowly walked in front of them, careful to stay out of Phoebe’s firing range.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said firmly. “He is a good man. He doesn’t belong with you, and we will not let you take him.”

They stared him down for a few moments, and Yama understood he wasn’t getting through. Without so much as a nod, he vanished.

 

(-:-)

 

Two days later, the San Francisco sky was overcast, perfect for the mood that the entire house found themselves in as they dressed in black and got ready to leave for Mark’s funeral.

Dean, of course, was the first one done. He only owned one outfit fit for a funeral after all, and the girls all seemed to think like they needed to be dressed perfectly. Prue and Phoebe did, at least. Dean was pretty sure that Piper was in her room crying, and would need an extra twenty minutes to redo her make up because of it.

He felt sorry for her and Mark both. Even he could see how they had clicked when they met. They would never know what could have happened if they had met a few days before he had died.

The last day and a half had been spent keeping Mark and Piper away from each other so that it wouldn’t be even worse. Even now, Sam was keeping Mark busy in the kitchen by making him explain as many Chinese myths he could remember, and scribbling them down for posterity.

Dean had something else to think about, though: He had gotten through his first hunt since he had gotten his powers, and everything had turned out fine.

He hadn’t blown anything up or nearly killed anyone, _and_ he and Prue had saved Piper from a mobster. What he thought was even more important, though, was that his new powers had helped them save a man that, left as a ghost, would become a vengeful spirit. They were saving not only Mark, but a dozen innocent people that he would be hurt one day if he was just left as a ghost.

So, with the case closed, and no one hurt in the crossfire, Dean was starting to wonder about the decision he had made to bind his powers.

As he stood up in the attic with Bobby’s spell book, and almost all of the ingredients laid out in front of him, he started to feel reluctant to go ahead and start mixing them. Blowing things up sucked, but they had helped to take out Jeremy and Tina when they were about to slaughter his family. He had gotten a hold of that over the past month, too, and had not blown anything up by accident in what felt like forever. Plus, what if seeing ghosts before they became vengeful spirits was helpful?

Dean pursed his lips and took a step back from the table, taking the book with him, and glancing at the potion instructions for a little while. Maybe he had jumped the gun, he thought. Maybe his powers weren’t as bad as he thought.

He closed the book, making his decision just as the door opened. Prue peeked a head in and looked at him confusedly. “What are you doing up here?”

He blinked, once, then twice, trying to come up with an answer. Then it came to him, and he gave her a weak smile. “Wrapping your birthday present?”

Prue looked doubtful as she walked into the room, and he held out the spell book for her to see. “Here,” he said.

Prue raised an eyebrow, flipping through it. She seemed surprised to find it was a spell book.

Dean grinned at her. “See. I told the others that my gifts don’t always suck,” he said, before starting to the door. “Now come on, we’ve got a funeral to get to, don’t we?”

Prue let her eyes follow him out the door, still surprised, and suspicious about the potion ingredients on the table. She didn’t know what he had been planning to do, but part of her felt like it was a better present that he hadn’t done whatever it was in the end. She put the book down on the table, choosing to ask about it later as she followed him downstairs, and they all braced themselves for Mark’s funeral.

 

(-:-)

 

It was a simple, hastily put together service, all in all. There were several friends of Mark’s that stood up and spoke about him. There were lawn chairs spread out in front of a podium, and a small pillar upon which an urn was rested. Mark’s mother sat in the front row, silently crying as she listened to the eulogy.

The Halliwell-Winchesters had chosen to stand off to the side, not intruding on the space of those who knew Mark best, but Mark wandered through the crowd. He said his goodbyes to his friends, despite the fact that they couldn’t hear him, saving his mother for last. They could see how sad he was to have to leave her, but he still looked grateful for everything she had done for him.

After that, he walked back over to the Halliwells. He just kind of smiled at them, avoiding Piper’s gaze. Instead he spoke to Prue. “Take it from me,” he warned. “Don’t miss your birthday. Not any of them. They’re precious.”

Prue smiled. “I won’t,” she assured him.

With nothing to say to the others, he couldn’t stop himself to moving over towards Piper. She let a tear roll down her face as he said, “I wish…”

She shook her head. “I know,” she said, her voice trembling. “Me too.”

Mark pursed his lips a little, and held up a hand as if he were going to touch her face. Piper relaxed, trying to feel it. “I’m gonna miss you Piper.”

Sam looked away, not wanting to intrude on the moment. He managed to look right at a man as he materialized a few feet away. “Who’s that?” he asked.

Mark turned around and smiled. “My dad,” he said. “I guess this really is goodbye.” He looked back at all of them for a second, silently saying farewell. Piper smiled through her tears, and Dean and Phoebe waved before he turned around and walked away. The second he reached his father, they embraced and disappeared.

Dean smiled. “Glad that worked,” he said cheerily. “I would’ve hated having to salt and burn him.”

Prue popped him in the chest, but Piper let out a tiny laugh before she choked on her tears. Phoebe put an arm around her shoulders comfortingly. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. He’s better off over there than he is here, anyway.”

“I know,” Piper said, still crying, before letting out another sad laugh. “Leave it to me to fall for a dead guy…”

The other smiled, and they all huddled in closer. Sam put a hand on her shoulder. “I say it’s an improvement. He wasn’t a warlock or a demon at least.”

Piper genuinely smiled at that, and she started to feel better as they walked towards the car.

The drive back to the house was happier than a lot of car rides would have been after a funeral. Dean and Phoebe spent the entire ride telling corny jokes, making Piper smile, and distracting Prue from whatever turmoil she had been avoiding with Andy. It was pretty much dark when they reached the house, and Prue spoke up once they stepped onto the front porch.

“You know what, I changed my mind. Maybe I should have a party after all.”

Piper grinned a little as she unlocked the door. Dean and Sam shared a look.

Phoebe nearly snorted. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Prue said, her voice a little defensive as they all walked into the dark house. “Why not? Mark is right…”

Piper led them all inside, and watched her steps as she fumbled for a light switch. “Well, Prue, I’m glad you said that, because…” she trailed off before flipping the switch. As the living room lit up, more than a dozen people jumped up and smiled, all of them shouting “SURPRISE”.

Prue staggered a little, but smiled as she saw all of her friends, and even her new colleagues from the auction house milling around. She looked at her family members with a knowing look.

Piper just kept grinning as her ability as a hostess drowned out the grief she was still stumbling out of. “Did I getcha?” she teased. “I gotcha.”

“Yeah, you got me,” Prue said, smiling and giving her sister a hug. Sam was next, saying Happy Birthday to her before running upstairs, not wanting to mingle with the adults too much. Dean followed up, unable to avoid the hug. He and Piper then walked off to start getting the buffet together.

Phoebe was last, walking up to Prue with a present she had grabbed off of the front table. She looked incredibly proud of herself, and so happy that her sister was happy with the party. “And I got you an actual present too,” she said excitedly. “It’s paid for, and I hope you like it.”

Prue smiled, and moved to hug her. “I’m speechless,” she said brightly. When they pulled away, Phoebe’s eyes drifted across the room, and she waved when she saw Andy.

Prue’s smile only brightened to see him standing there, and she couldn’t wait to tell him that she had made her decision about their spa weekend.


End file.
